Indicator.



J. T. CAMPBELL.

INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 27.1913. 1,220,318. Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

2/ f/6" '20 mi, If i 32' IIIHI' IIIIHIII 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE-f mm rnomss CAMPBELL, or NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, assmnon or ONE-HALF r CLIFTON G. nausea, or NORFOLK, VIRGINIA.

INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented M n 27, 1917.

Application filed October 27, 1918. Serial No. 797,574.

2 To all whom it may concern ing:

Be it known that 1, JOHN THOMAS CAMP- BELL, citizen of the United States, residing at Norfolk, in the 1 county of Norfolk and State of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention pertains to indicators, and it has for its object to provide an indicator for denoting the quantity of liquid in a tank at all times, and for also indicating the amount of liquid taken from the tank in a predetermined period.

The device is designed more particularly for use in connection with the gasolene tank of an automobile with a view to enabling the owner to detect when the machine has been used by another person without authority; and it will be fully understood from the following description and claim when the same are read in connection with the drawings, accompanying and forming part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, of the indicator constituting the preferred embodiment of my invention. v

Fig. 2 is a detail plan of the dial face and the indicator hands or pointers disposed above said face.

Fig. 3 is a detail plan showing the pawl 18 and the ratchet portion 20 with which it cooperates.

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the relation of the pawl 24 and the gear portion 23.

Referring by numerals to the said drawgraduations may be of any suitable description and may be numbered if desired, or the numbers may be omitted without affecting my invention.

Within a casing formed by the tube portipn 2 a wall 2 fixed in the tube and the dial 6 is arranged a train of gearing hereinafter described, and journaled at its lower end in the center of the tube 2 is a twisted shaft 7. This twisted shaft is provided at 1ts upper end with a shaft portion 8 of circular form in cross-section, and the latter is ournaled'in the wall 2, and is extended upwardly through the dial 6.

The twisted shaft 7 extends through an oblong aperture in a float 9, disposed and adapted to move vertically in the tube 2; the said float being held against turning by upright fixed rods 10, or other suitable means. From this it follows that upward movement of the float 9 will be attended by rotation of the shaft 7 in one direction, and that downward movement of the float will be attended by rotation of the shaft in the opposite direction. With this understanding and the further understanding that the shaft portion 8 is provided at its upper end with a hand or pointer 11, designed to cooperate with graduations 12, it will be manifest that an automobile owner is enabled at all times to see the quantity of gasolene that is contained in the tank 1, the hand or pointer 11 moving in one direction when the float 9 is raised by the placing of gasolene in the tank, and in the other direction when the float gravitates on withdrawal of gasolene from the tank, and being adapted to remain at restwhen the float is at rest.

13 is a hand or pointer adapted to coop erate with graduations 14 on the dial 6. The said hand 13 is carried by an arbor 15, that is.journaled in the dial 6 and is provided below the same with a large spur gear 16.

Fixedly mounted on the shaft portion 8 is a wheel or disk 17, equipped with a I gear and ratchet portion 23. With this said portion 23 a pawl 24 cooperates to prevent retrograde movement of the gear 21 and the.

gear 19, when the iioat is raised b tl'ge suply of gasolene to the tank 1, an th pawl tion 23 of gear 21. The said gear 25 is pro vided with a'reduced gear portion 26, intermeshed with the gear 16, and is further provided with an upwardly extending sleeve 27, disposed in the dial 6 and equipped with a hand or pointer 28, adapted to coiiperate with graduations 29 on the dial 6. The

pawl 24 is preferably connected with and supported by the dial 6 as shown.

It will be manifest from the foregoing that when gasolene is put into the tank 1 the hands or pointers 28 and 13 will remain idle. When, however, the float 9 moves downwardly incidental to the withdrawal of gasolene from the tank 1, the hands or pointers 28 and 13 will be moved; the move- .ment of the hand or pointer 13 being much slower than the movement of the hand or pointer 28.

It will alsobe manifestthat by referring to the pointers 13 and 28 the owner of a car is enabled to ascertain the quantity of gasolene consumed in a certain period, and by noting the positions of the said pointers when the car leaves his possession and when it is returned he is enabled to tell whether the car has been used, and if so to what extent. f ,7

It will be ap reciated from the foregoing that my novel indicator is simple and inexpensive in construction and reliable in oporation, and that it embodies no delicate parts such as are'liable'to get out of order after a short period of use.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

In an indicator, the combination of a tube, a dial wall supported therein, a shaft extending through said wall and rotatable in opposite directions, a gear loose on the shaft, means intermediate the shaft and said ear for rotating the gear on the rotation of the shaft in one direction and leaving the gear idle on rotation of the shaft in the opposite direction, a support connected with the dial wall, a second gear loosely mounted on said support and intermeshed with the first-named gear and having at its'side adjacent to the dial wall a comparativelysmall, central combined ratchet and gear portion, a pawl supported on the dial wall and 'arranged to coiiperate with said combined ratchet and gear portion, and a third gear loose on the shaft and carrying a hand and intermeshed with said combined ratchet and gear portion. 1

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN THOMAS CAMPBELL.

Witnesses:

C. G. TRAYWICK, J. S. RAmzBoRA'r. 

